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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1926)
^ THE MONITOR e™: t NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS | THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor. $2.00 a 2 —5 Cents a Copy. OMAHA. NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1926 Whole Number 563 Vol. XI.—No. 45 XT. 1 1 ■ 111 ' 1 ————^————^— ANTI-LYNCHING BILL IS REJECTED MOB-LYNCHING BILL IS SMOTHERED BY SEHATE COMMITTEE Senate Group by Vote of Nine to Three Refuses to Report Measure Which Is Given Serious x Backset. NORRIS ABSENT DOES NOT VOTE Two Republicans and One Democrat Vote Favorably and Four Repub licans and Five Democrat* Oppose. Washington D. C.—The senate judi ciary committee, by a vote of 9 to “ declined, Tuesday in executive session to report the McKinley Anti-Lynching bill. Two Republicans ami one Democrat voted for a favorable report anil four Republicans and five Democrats voted against it. These senators voted “Yes": Tlrnest, Republican, Kentucky. Cummins, Republican, Iowa. Ashurst Democrat, Arizona. These senators voted “No": Borah, Republican, Idaho, Means, Republican, Colorado. Harreld, Republican, Oklahoma. Deneen, Republican, Illinois. Overman, Democrat, North Caro lina. Reed, Democrat, Missouri. Walsh, Democrat, Montana. Caraway, Democrat, Arkansas. King, Democrat, Utah. The bill is similar to the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill passed bv the House some years ago but still in the Senate by a filibuster of so itbein senators. Friends of the measure declare that the bill is not dead and that they will make another effort to have it re ported by the senate judiciary com mlttee. The McKinley bill would make lynching a federal crime. Any county in which a lynching took place would be required to forfeit $10,000 to the estate of the victim and any sheriff or county officer who permitted a mob to lynch a prisoner for whom he was responsible might l»e subjected to a term of five years and a fine of $5,000. Two or more persons w'ouid constitute a mob. Senator Ashurt confirmed Tuesday outside the chambers of the Senate, standing in the oapitol before news paper men, authenticity of the above article. Senator McKinley who introduced this bill last December was away on a vacation in Florida. Colonel Smith who defeated him recently in the Illi nois primaries, was in Washington when the measure came up. Senator Harreld who favored the bill all along thought it unwise to precipitate another filibuster and voted against it. Senator Reed proposed killing the bill for all time instead of postponing It for another week or so. Senator I>eneen, of Illinois, was either absent or unwilling to vote. H was recorded among the nine against the bill. Senator Norris of Nebraska was absent and so did not vote. His atti tude is not known. SLAYER NOW DECLARED ONLY INSANE Trenton, N. J.—Harrison W. Noel, white, sentenced to death for the brutal murder of Raymond Pierce, taxicab driver, and Mary Daly, a white child, victim in an attempted kidnaping, won a new trial this week on the ground of insanity. The crimes were committed near Montclair, N. J. The Court of Errors and Appeals by a vote of 12 to 1 granted the anpeal from conviction on the ground that Noel was insane at the time the murder was committed and was still technically an undis charged inmate of the Overbrook In sane Asylum. The pleas of insanity was set up during the trial and it was declared the prisoner was in a mental state to stand trial. ('KUAN LEAGUE PRE SENTS CAUSE OF RACE TO IMMENSE CROWD Few York—On Wednesday evening, May 19th, a distinguished audience of white and colored people filled Town Hall to capacity to hear the “New Negro Tell His Story.” The occasion was the opening of the drive to se cure an Urban League’s Sustaining Fund of $350,000 to assure the run ning expenses of the new York, Brooklyn and National Urban Leagues for three years. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most brilliant inter racial gatherings ever witnessed in Greater New York. With L. Hollings worth Wood, President of the Na tional Urban League, presiding, there ere addresses by Charles S. John son, Editor of "Opportunity” Maga zine; John E. Nuil, Harlem Real Es tate Operator and Mr.-. Elsie Mc Dougald, Assistant Principal of Pub ic School No. 89. Eugene Kinckle Jones, Executive Secretary of the National Urban el-ague, gave a brief review of the astonishing growth and effectiveness of the League's work. The Reverend Henry Hugh Proctor lecently elected Moderator of the New York Association of Congregational Churches discussed the function of the Negro church in relation to social (■•vice among Negroes. Coming down um Harvard University, especially for this meeting, Countee Cullen read from "Color” and otherwise delighted the audience. The Harmonic Quar tette, through the courtesy of J. Rosa mond Johnson, Mrs. Charlotte Wallace Murray and C. Carroll Clark, accom panied by Miss Beatrice Lewis, sang Negro spirituals. Lloyd Garrison great grandson of William I-ioyd Gar rison and Treasurer of the National Urban I-eague, spoke of the fiscal problems confronting the Urban I-eague and pleaded for racial justice. The climax of the evening came, however, when a letter from Casper Holstein, the donor of the $1,000 awards in Opportunity’s recent liter ary Prize Contest, was read, in which there were a check for $500, making a total of $1,000 Mr. Holstein, a col ored man, has given so far to the Ur gan League’s three years’ sustaining fund. In his letter to Mr. Jones Mr. Hol stein said, "I intended to be present at the meeting tonight but unfortu nately I cannot do so. “But I am so vitally interested in the efforts the Urban League is mak ing for funds with which to conduct and solidify its work for the next three years that I cannot wdthhold the impulse to send you another check for Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), merely as an expression of what I, as an humble member of the Negro race, deem to be my duty, with the hope that it will encourage other Ne groes to realize their responsibility to the Urban League.” _ CHl'RCH MEMBERSHIP GROWS __ The recent census of religious 1 bodies, taken by Dr. H. K. Carrol, I shows a total church membership in the United tSates of 46,883,756, o approximately 42 per cent of the en | tire population. The largest protest ant body is the Methodist, while the J Roman Catholics maintain almost an ■ equal lead with the Methodists. Fol olwing these two large bodies are the | Baptists, the Disciples of Christ, the ! Presbyterians, and the Lutherans, in the order named. Among the Colored denominations the National Baptist, with two or ganizations, leads with a membership of 3,044,528, followed by the A. M. E., ! with 698,029. the A. M. E. Z., with i 190,000, and C. M. E., with 342,000 members. Dr. Carrol claims that the National Baptist organizations suf fered in recent years by the heavy migration of colored families to northern cities. SENDS ENGINEER ABROAD Chicago.—Henry E. Cobb, mining engineer employed by the Payne Company, has been ordered abroad to the company’s office In Paris. Eigh teen vears ago he began with this | company as a laborer. His specialty ' is building artesian wells. \ SERIOUS CHARGE WHICH MIGHT HAVE CAUSED TROUBLE Vernon A. Ashford, 24, 2514 North Thirty-first street, porter at Dorsey’s chicken shack, Fifty-fifth and Center streets, was arrested Saturday night and held for investigation upon the serious charge that he had detained and abused a little t-year-old white girl, Rosie, daughter of Mrs. Georgian Ayden, 5606 Dorcas street. The. mother is a widow and in poor circumstances. The little girl, who is very small and looks like a child of 5, was seen by a neighbor munching candy Friday morning, and was asked why she was not in school and where she got her candy. She said a man at the chicken shack kept her from go ing to school and gave her three nick els. The woman jumped to the conclu sion that a Negro had tampered with this child. The story grew and it wa rumored that there would be a serious trouble and that there were threars of lynching. Police Officer Bell reported I the case Saturday afternoon and Sat I urday night three detectives arrested | Vernon Ashford, whom the child said gave her the money. Ashford was re leased Sunday afternoon on his own recognizance. Monday morning the case was dismissed. Mis. Ayden stat ing that the child hail not been harmed and there was nothing to the story. As a matter of fact, Ashton, who is married and has two children, aged 4 and 2, respectively, and bears a good reputation, did not go to work until 1 o’clock Friday afternoon and was a! home, several miles from his place of employment at the time when it wras | said by one of the newspapers that he had pulled her into the chicken shack. The child comes to the place quite frequently and a white patron, doubt less moved by a generous impulse, gave the child the money with which she bought the candy. Had the Omaha newspapers written up the story with scarecrow headline and in a sensational manner it is not hard to imagine what the result might have been. Here was a lie told by someone that might have caused a tragedy. CHICAGO MRAT-PACKERS EMPLOY COLORED WOMEN I According to a study of women in I Illinois industries, just released by the i by the Women's Bureau of the U. S. . Department of Labor, the meat-pack ing establishments of Chicago absorb a large percentage of colored women engaged in the industrial life of that. city. Laundries, house furnishing j manufactories, and textile plants also employ a good percentage of this racial group of workers. The Bureau states that large pro portions of women HO years of age and over were found in the slaughtering and meat-packing houses; while this same racial group performs fifty pe cent of Chicago’s laundry work. SEEK U. S. AID IN WAR ON SLAVERY Wshington—The Foreign Missions Conference of North America has sent a memorandum to President Coolidge, Secretary of State Kellogg, and Sen- ^ ator Borah, recommending that the i United States co-operate with the league of Nations in adopting a new international convention against slav ery. According to the Conference’s mem orandum, slavery still persists in a number of places. With the opening of Africa for trade, it is claimed that the labor of the natives is being un justly exploited by plantation and mine owners. GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN APPOINTS RACE COMMISSIONER Lansing, Mich., May 27.—(By The Associated Negro Press) Fulfilling a promise given to the Advisory Board of the Division of Negro Welfare and Statistics in its first annual session, Alexander J. Grofcsbeck, Governor of Michigan, has announced the appoint ment of a State Interracial Coiemis sion consisting of ten members, five colored and five white. NEGROES IN FOUR CITIES SUBSCRIBE $100,000 TO “V Philadelphia, Pa. May 28—(By The ■' filiated Negro Press) “With the closing of this campaign the colored /ens in four cities, Buffalo, N. Y., Little Rock, Ark., Dayton, Ohio, and Germantown, Pa., have shown their ability and willingness to meet a great challenge based on an altruistic motive. In each city except one the a 1 sought has been over-subscribed by one hundrel per cent. During this year the colored people have contrib i d more than $100,000 toward the building, land, and equipment for these Y. M. C. A. plants. This, to gether with the pledge of Mr. Rosen wald of Chicago and friends in the re uectiver cities, has added a total of one half million dollars of property holdings for the work among colored men and boys. This has been the de y a’- ii. building campaigns since the great war." nus spoke R. D. DeFrantz, cam paign director, at the close of the suc drive by tl , men of the West Rittenhouse Street Y. M. C. A., Ger man town, on last Monday night when it was discovered that the sixty work h id brought, in a total of $18, 128.50 during the drive of seven days. The goal set for the Germantown men had been $10,000. George W, Deane, general chair man, of the drive, stated: “The unity of purpose shown by the men of Ger mantown leads me to believe a new day of co-operative activity will fol low the splendid results of the cam paign.” Dayton with a goal of $15,000 the ( previous week reached a total of $30, 500. In March the men of Little Rock turned in mor^ than $32,000 in a drive for $15,000. In Buffalo where the colored men was expected to raise $10,000, $21,000 was raised. Already plans have been drawn and building operations will be actively under way within a few days: for a building in Buffalo on Michigan Avenue to cost between $150,000 and $175,000. The indications are that at least five cities will conduct campaigns for modem buildings next year. AMERICAN ATHLETIC UNION ADMITS NEGRO CLUB New York—The American Athletic Union has admitted to its membership the Century Athletic Club, an organi zation of crack Negro track and field performers, whose representatives have repeatedly covered themselves with glory in open competition with formers of the New York Athletic Club and other leading athletes of the New York, Westchester and Long Island districts. The headquarters of the Association will be maintained in New York City. HOW THE SUNNY SOUTH ENCOURAGES EDUCATION Weigh. N. C.—There are only 166 public high schools for colored child ren in hte United States, according to the bulletin of the National Associa tion of Teachers in Colored Schools, nnn to be issued. The list of schools includes all 17 southern states. While there are only 166 four year high schools for colored children in the whole south, one progressive southern state alone has 436 accredited high schools for white children. N. A. A. C. I’. RECEIVES BEQUEST OF $424 New York—The National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People, 69 Fifth Avenue, ha* received a check of $424, presenting a bequest from the estate of the late George T. Morgan, who bequeathed this sum in his will. ■ - DILLARD AT MORRIS BROWN COMMENCEMENT Atlanta, Ga.—(By the Associawso Negro Press).—Dr. James H. Dil lard, president of the John F. Slater Fund, will deliver the commence ment address at Morris Brown Uni versity this year. The baccalaureate sermon, May 23, will be preached by Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom. PRESIDENT OFFICIALLY I DESIGNATES AMERICAN 1 INDEPENDENCE WEEK Southern Democrats Otherwise Head Nation-Wide Observance Ar rangements—Protest Sent to Coolidge. Washington, May 15, 1926—An “American Independence Week” will be observed throughout the country from June 28 to July 5, to mark the sesqui-centennial this year of the Declaration of Independence and the centenary of the death of Thomas Jef ferson. Decision to that effect was reached ; today by the commission appointed j by the Government to arrange for the 1 observances at a meeting in the White House, presided over by President! I Coolidge. The commission selected Mr. j Coolidge as honorary chairman. Dr. ! Edwin A. Alderman, president of the j University of Virginia, as honorary i vice chairman, and as the active chair man, Stuart G. Gibboney, president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. The commission plans to prepare a : patriotic and educational program for ! the week with the cooperation of Governors, Mayors and civic organi- i zations. President Coolidge read a telegram from Felix M. Warburg, a member of the commission, suggesting that av | a tribute to Thomas Jefferson’s stand for religious freedom, a Protestant, a Catholic and a Jew each contribute $100,000 to the fund for the purchase of Monticello and to the endowment fund. Calling attention to the fact that both these civilian heads are men of Southern birth and training and demo crats in politics, the National Equal Rights league has protested to Presi I dent Coolidge against a program with j a Southern race bias, even negatively, j for the official sesqui-centennial of i I the Declaration which can only be constructively observed by emphasis upon the ^great principles of liberty and the euality of man upon which it based the right of the Colonies to become an independent nation, the violation of which should be one of the aims of any true observance of America’s basic instrument. In behalf of Colored Americans, the ! chief victims of the violation, the j League asks that men of liberal Northern traditions be added to the active management by the selection of two Northern Republicans. The League urges colored citizens to petition President Coolidge to make fulfillment of the principles of the Declaration for all regardless of race or color a feature of the observ ance. It urges all colored veteran posts on Memorial Day and their speakers to tell the public that the observance is a mockery unless color proscription is stopped; and to ob serve June 17, “Peter Salem Day,” Anniversary of Bunker Hill, first reg j ular battle of the Revolution, for the I express purpose of calling for en forcement and for urging the Presi dent to abolish federal segregation in honor of the event. | \l DITOR1UM SEATING 4500 FOR N. A. A. C. P. MEETING New York—One of the largest meeting halls in the city of Chicago, the Auditorium seating 4500 persons, has been obtained for the Sunday mass meeting during the 17th Annual Conference of the National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People this June, it was announced today. Clarence Darrow anil James Weldon Johnson are to be the chief speakers at this meeting. Dr. Her bert A. Turner, President of the Chi cago Branch of the N. A. A. C. P., reports that arrangements are under way to broadcast over the radio the speeches deliveed at this meting. COLOR BAR BILL PASSED Capetown, S. A.—(ANP) Passage of the color bar bill here denies na tives the privilege of participating in government affairs and limits them to certain classes of industry. The bill does not affect the mixed breeds. FLORIDA CALLS OUT TROOPS TO QUELL TROUBLE Resenting Presence of Negroes Em ployed on Road Floridians Staged Double Lynching in State. GOVERNOR ACTS PROMPTLY Several Members of the Mob Placed Under Arrest and Held Without Bond—Action Unusual And Unexpected. Labejle, Fla.—Because whites re sented the presence of Negroes work ing on the road, Florida staged a double lynching last week. In this town, Henry Patterson was shot and killed by a mob Tuesday of last week. His body was paraded through the streets, then hung to a tree on the outskirts of the town. At first he was charged with hav ing attacked a white woman. Later the woman and her friend admitted that the man only came to her house to ask for a drink of water. Following a meeting of the grand jury troops were called out and sev en white members of the mob were arrested and held without bail on the charge of murder. This is the first time such drastic action has been taken in this part of the state. M. E. pastors scored the lynchers in their sermons Sunday. They referred to it as a premeditated murder. Sheriff Defends Lynchers. Sheriff Daniel McLaughlin said that the members of the mob, whom he termed as “boys,” have a lot of right on their side. “This trouble has been brewing for sime time. It start ed when we were having a campaign down here for a bond issue to build good roads. People who were push ing the bond issue promised work to all the boys if they would vote for it. They stirred them up with promises of plenty of work and the boys sup ported the bind issue so it went over big. “The next thing we knew contract ors imported a lot of Negroes and the voters who supported the bond issue could not get work on the road. They felt they had been tricked and natur ally they resented the presence of th colored men here. That is the story behind the trouble. There are a num ber of persons living here who don’t want these Negroes working on the road.” St. Petersburg. Parker Watson was lynched at St. Petersburg, F’la., Sunday. He was supposed to have known the where abouts of some stolen goods. The bodv was found with five bullet holes in it and what appeared to be acid stains on his face, Monday morning. The mob took him from the officers Sunday night. There is no explana tion of the fact that when he was taken from the officers he was hand cuffed and when found there were no handcuffs on him. Officer could not explain their removal, saying he had the key. So far as is known, the governor of the state has taken no action ex cept to send troops. There has been no indictment of the grand jury at St. Petersburg and no arrests have been made. FISK STUDENT WINS PRIZE. Nashville, Tenn.—Miss Ariel Wil liams, a senior student at Fisk Uni versity, has been awarded half of the first ami second prizes in the Poetry Section of Opportunity’s Second Lit erary Contest, was announced at a special meeting recently held in New York City. NEGRO BRICKMAKERS Washington—Employed in brick, tile and terra cotta factories in the United States are more than 10,000 colored wage earners, who receive approximately $12,000,000 per year in wages. Dependent upon these wage earners for their shelter, food, cloth ing and education are more than 25, 000 women and children.